Many women were, and still are,
embarrassed to buy menstrual
products.

One way companies devised to
overcome this was to offer notes to
give to sales clerks, the "silent
purchase" of the ad below. A
writer to MUM said that companies
used this method also during World
War II.

The German company that sold Camelia
pads (scroll to bottom of that
page), the second disposable pad
in that country (see an ad for the
first),
until about 1950 put a slip of
paper into each box of pads asking
the clerk to sell this person a
plainly wrapped box of Camelia.
And a sign in stores told
customers to ask a female
clerk for the pads.

Mail-order catalogs, like Sears,
Roebuck in the U.S.A., provided
another way for women to buy
menstrual products without
embarrassing themselves, and
promoted this fact (see an ad for
the 1930s tampon Wix).

Readable enlargements of the
words of the ad appear below the
first picture.